Spellbound
by brightspark
Summary: Seifer returns to Garden, and asks for help with a little problem he has a spell cast on him for revenge. SquallxRinoa, SeiferxSquall.
1. Chapter 1

Rinoa didn't want to let me go that morning. Her body curled around mine tightly, her arms, her legs, her whole body tangled with mine. I might have liked to stay there, some other morning, but I had work to do, so I gently forced her to let go of me, leaning down to kiss her as she stirred. "I'll see you later," I said, softly, and her eyes blinked open for a moment before she nodded, yawning sleepily and snuggling back into the covers.

I rolled my eyes at her laziness before going to get my shower.

She was sitting up in bed when I got back, running a hand through her hair. "Do you _have_ to go to work so early?" she asked, yawning again.

I didn't see anything wrong with the time – still don't – but I nodded as I pulled on my uniform, fixing the little stripes to my collar and trying not to curse as I pricked my fingers. I hated formal meetings, but I had one in two hours and so, of course, I had to be looking my best, in that too tight, too stiff SeeD uniform. 'It's an honour to wear the SeeD uniform,' Quistis had insisted to us when we were in training.

An honour, and a pain in the neck.

Still, whatever, it was my uniform and if I had to wear it, I'd at least give in gracefully.

Rinoa sat back against the pillows and smiled at me, a pretty, coquettish smile. "You look great in that uniform, you know. Now I remember why you caught my eye that night."

I shrugged it off. I know that people considered me good looking or handsome or whatever, but I've never paid much attention to that. That's their problem, not mine. I don't want to know, or be bothered by it. It's enough to know that I look okay, and not as if I just got out of bed.

"I'll see you tonight," I said, and she nodded, laying back again. Normally, I didn't fully wake her in my getting up, showering and dressing process, so these somehow awkward mornings when she sat in bed and watched me were few and far between. I made a mental note to try and be quieter in future as I turned to leave the room.

"Have a good day!" she called after me as the door shut.

It was definitely an odd feeling, waking up to Rinoa in bed, being waved off, as it were, by a cheerful female on a morning. Normally, or rather, back when I was in training, the first voices I would hear on a morning would be Quistis' – a cheerful, friendly, 'good morning, Squall!' - or Seifer's – a gruff, perhaps amused, 'morning, puberty boy'.

The cafeteria was a buzz of talk that morning, which was odd, considering the time. Normally most people who were up at that time were quiet, murmuring to each other and drinking coffee and eating toast or whatever else was available – invariably, in Zell's case, hotdogs. Even the ladies who prepared and served the food seemed more cheerful, more awake, as if cheerfully lamenting some scandal or other.

Which turned out to be the case.

"Commander," one of them said, beaming at me as she handed me my usual cup of coffee – black, with some sugar. "Have you heard about Seifer Almasy?"

For a moment, I couldn't think what she could possibly be talking about. Then I remembered.

"His trial?"

"He's been acquitted!" she said, in an excited voice, as if it was the worst thing and the most exciting thing that had happened in months.

Women.

Nothing else really happened that morning, apart from the overly boring meeting with a client or two and the hours of quiet paperwork. I used to need perfect quiet while I worked at assignments and the like, but by then I welcomed almost any sound, unless it was Selphie's overly cheerful chirping. The tick of the clock sounded far too loud and I was almost glad for the interruption when Xu opened the door, a worried look on her face.

"Commander?"

"Yes?" I asked, looking up at her, tempted to remind her that barely months before she had been far superior to me and that, maybe, she didn't need to bow and scrape quite so much. But the rules of Garden are the rules of Garden and, I suppose, we should stick to them.

"Seifer Almasy is here to see you, sir."

I don't know quite what I felt at that moment. Mostly annoyance, that he should be back in Garden where he had no right to be. A little surprise, that he was here so soon after being tried in Esthar. Mostly just a blank kind of curiosity, wondering what the hell he wanted.

I realised that Xu was waiting for my answer. "...Send him in."

"Yes, sir," she said, with a brief salute, and went out again, the door sliding shut behind her.

The door swished open again barely a moment later and I heard heavy steps on the carpeted floor. I didn't look up, instead keeping my eyes on my work, waiting for him to say whatever he had come to say, or at least waiting for him to speak the first words. The silence stretched out between us, but whereas I am perfectly comfortable with these supposedly awkward silences, I knew that Seifer hated them.

"Squally-boy," he said, mock pleasantly, and I glanced up.

"That's Commander to you, Almasy."

"I'm not a SeeD," he pointed out, smirking a little.

I paused to let the stupidity of his comment sink in for him. Whether he was a SeeD or not, I was still Commander. And I had still been the one to defeat him in the war that was only just over. I looked him over as I sat there, leaning back in my leather chair with a soft creak of leather, but without putting my pen down. He was thinner than I remembered, and there were dark circles under his eyes, as if he had barely slept in days. There was something almost desperate about his expression, or maybe his face was just so much gaunter than I remembered that it appeared that way.

"Fine. _Commander_ Squally-boy."

"What do you want?"

"You," he said, with an easy shrug, and then smirked down at me. "But I can settle for you letting me stay in Garden again."

"Why should I do that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. I didn't want or need to say much. He was edgy, though trying to hide it, and I knew that he was a little scared that I would do something to him. Perhaps he was scared that I wouldn't let him stay.

"Look," he spoke a little less arrogantly now, more of the tiredness creeping into his voice, "I'm not exactly going to beg for this. But I have no other home, especially not after everything I did during the war. I want..." he paused, and then carried on, speaking a little faster, as if he had been about to say something else, but had changed his mind, "I know I never treated you very nicely, and I know I never passed my SeeD exam, but fuck it all, I belong here."

"What makes you think that?"

He straightened up, rubbing the back of his neck as if his muscles ached, and sighed, looking out of the window behind my desk to avoid meeting my eyes. "I just... feel like I do."

"You want me to readmit you to Garden because you _feel_ as if you belong here?" I asked, and my voice dripped disbelief and impatience.

"Please," he said, closing his eyes and allowing a little more desperation to slide into his voice, making it full of sincerity. I almost believed him. "Please, I have nowhere else to go. Give me a chance."

"I'll think about it," I said, simply, and turned back to my work. That was all. Seifer shifted for a moment, uncomfortably, and then cleared his throat.

"I... need somewhere to stay, while you think it over."

I took pity on him, a little. "Raijin and Fujin are living in Balamb."

"Thank you, Squall," he said, and I looked up in surprise at the sound of my name. He was smiling, a soft, not amused, but almost affectionate smile. "Thanks a lot."

His tone wasn't sarcastic at all.

He turned and walked out of my office, the polished metal doors swishing quietly shut behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

I knew where to find Seifer when I wanted him. I knew that Fujin and Raijin would let him stay with them, so I wasn't worried about how he was looking after himself down in Balamb. I was more worried about getting all the paperwork I had piling up in my office done. Mornings were never long enough to finish all the paperwork, though, no matter how hard I tried, even though lunchtime never came soon enough.

I ate my lunch with Quistis and Xu, since Rinoa was nowhere in sight. I had to wonder if she was even going to get up that day, but I guessed that she was probably with some other friends. It didn't bother me much. I never am in the mood for company at lunchtime.

Quistis and Xu were talking about ordinary, mundane things. I don't even remember what it was. Gossip about Garden, speculation about when Esthar would contact again about that really good contract... I honestly don't remember.

But when I heard them mention Seifer, and I sat up straight and started paying attention.

"Did you _see_ him, Quistis?" Xu was saying, "I've never seen him look so..."

"So defeated?" Quistis asked, raising an eyebrow, and laughed softly. "He never has been beaten as badly as he was in the war... well, he's never been beaten. Even if everyone believes, or at least, pretends to believe that he was under the sorceress' control, I can't see that he's very happy that everyone knows he was beaten."

"Still... I think it was more than that."

"I assure you, Xu," she said, lightly, as if she knew Seifer better than anybody, "That probably really is all that's wrong with him. He's always hated it when anyone was even slightly better at something than he was. Right, Squall?"

I just shrugged. A moment later I left the table, no longer feeling in the right mood to eat.

Quistis didn't know Seifer half as well as she thought she did. The only people I think might truly know Seifer are his posse, and even with them... well, I think he keeps a lot more hidden than he'll ever admit to. And I didn't think he truly minded being beaten fairly. What he always minded was being beaten when he knew he could do better. And I was sure that he realised that even though we defeated him, we were all pushed to our very limits to do so.

I walked down into Balamb that day. I liked walking – it gave me a chance to think – and I didn't want to bother any of the Garden staff by asking to take a car. Besides, Balamb wasn't far away and the walk gave me a chance to fight a little, keeping in practice.

It was surprisingly easy to find him, too – though that could have been because of the little trail of people leading to him. Groups of people who _hated _him, protested his release, protested against his innocence.

He was innocent. I hated to admit it, but he had to be. If he had been guilty, he would have faced up to a punishment and admitted all his involvements in the war. But the way he denied it all... I knew that he _must_ have been under the Sorceress' control.

Seifer might be an asshole and he can be a prick, and sometimes he takes things too far, and his arrogance could get on a _saint's_ nerves, but he's honourable. To men like him, honour means everything. Honour and truth and love.

He looked up at me, through the crowd of people, and there was such a look in his eyes, it took my breath away. There were all kinds of emotions there I wouldn't like to try and name, and as I stood there in front of him I felt... _naked_. Like he was looking right through me.

"_What do you want?"_ I'd asked.

"_You,"_ he'd said, I'd ignored that part, but now -

Now I wasn't sure if he'd been joking or not.

The crowd cleared away quickly when they saw that I was there, perhaps thinking that I would do something to Seifer that they couldn't, punish him somehow. Perhaps they just respected my authority which, though a rather odd thought to me – how can a teenager like me be a Commander? - seems most likely.

"You have a place in Garden," I said, curtly, crisply, fighting back a storm of emotions that wanted to show themselves, wanting to be as calm and impassive as always while I stood in front of me. I wanted to tell him to stop looking at me like that, but I didn't want to show him that I'd noticed, or that it made me feel so uncomfortable.

"Squall, I - "

"Report to Xu when you get back, I'll have her assign you a dorm."

He stiffened slightly at the order and then he relaxed, a laughing look on his face. "Yes, sir!"

I turned away from him quickly and started to walk away, just to get away from that intense look. For a moment, he stayed there, and then he followed me quickly, his boots ringing on the concrete, and grabbed my arm, swinging me round.

"Squall. _Thank you_," he said, softly. "I have no where else to go, no one else I want to go to... no one else who would've helped me."

"Raijin and Fujin were willing to help you," I said coolly, refusing to look at him.

"Perhaps," he said, and then released me, shaking his head slightly. "I'll see you in Garden, Leonhart."

I hurried away.


	3. Chapter 3

I arranged a duel with Seifer. I was excited, getting plenty of rest the night before, polishing and checking Lionheart thoroughly. I used to live for our fights, and we hadn't had one in so long...

But it was a disappointment.

His heart just wasn't it. I couldn't rouse him to fight with me, couldn't make him angry – his eyes were intense, but the intensity wasn't the old _fire_ that used to live there, it was something else, something that made me feel uncomfortable rather than at home. We fought in the same old pattern, never slipping from the groove, I could almost predict every move.

That was why he used to be so hard to beat. Because he was completely unpredictable.

It was no good with him being _normal_ and _easy_. I didn't know what he was up to but I was beyond sick of him. I quickened my pace, forcing him to block more fiercely, gritting my teeth as shocks from our blades meeting seemed to rattle all the bones in my body. But still, he couldn't surprise me, not with a feint, not with a straight forward slash.

I whirled Lionheart around, stopping it just short of the main artery in his neck. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Almasy?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, cool as a cucumber despite the cold metal of my gunblade against his warm skin, skin that jumped and throbbed with life, with blood.

"You're not fighting like you could do. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He snorted softly and reached up, pushing the blade away from his neck. The leather of his gloves protected him from getting cut by it, though the leather split easily under the blade. "It's sharper than it used to be," he said, sounding surprised, surveying the split in his gloves. "You owe me some new gloves, Leonhart."

"Whatever."

"Aww, back to the old standby?" he asked, and then gave me that _look_ again. I hated it. I wanted him to stop. I would _kill_ him to make him stop looking at me like that.

"Don't look at me."

"Why can't I?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

I didn't say anything. To say anything at that point would be to admit to a weakness. In fact, I shouldn't have said it at all. I shut my mouth and stared at him. Silence always makes people uncomfortable. Stay silent and stare long enough and you can have people spilling out secrets, if they're easily intimidated enough.

Seifer wasn't easily intimidated.

"How about a date, Leonhart?" he asked, smirking easily, "I'll tell you what's wrong... over dinner."

"I'm going out to dinner with Rinoa," I lied, and wondered why. He was just messing with me about the date thing, I could see no reason to turn him down and yet, instinctively, I did. I made plans to make sure he didn't catch me out and to take Rinoa out. Maybe to Esthar. Far away from Seifer, anyway. There was that unidentifiable look in his eyes again, though a little sadder. I didn't understand. I just wanted to know why he kept looking at me like that, and yet something in me told me that I didn't want to know.

"Too bad. Over coffee, then. Tomorrow morning," he said, eyes on me.

I nodded. He smiled slightly.

"It's a date."

And off he went.

"It's nice that you let Seifer back into Garden," Rinoa said later, smiling, eating a yoghurt delicately. I watched her, the way she took a small scoop, handling the spoon like a delicate tool, the scoops always perfect, and the way she would make sure she didn't look at all suggestive eating it. I smiled slightly, and she laughed, putting a finger in the yoghurt and reaching up to dab it on my nose.

I've never understood her little games. But she seemed happy and I let her do it. I wiped the yoghurt off quickly before anyone else noticed, and savoured the laughter in her eyes.

"There's something wrong with him, though," I said, frowning slightly.

"Maybe he's just uncomfortable," she suggested, "you should make more of an effort to make him comfortable and welcome."

"He's not welcome," I said, but only softly. Rinoa pretended not to hear.

So the next morning I was ready to be kind to him. Or, well, not kind. But I was ready to listen to whatever he had to say. Offer him help if he needed it. I didn't know what the problem was then, of course. I figured it would be something to do with people harassing him. Some reason making that stick on his mind, distracting him. I didn't care. I was prepared to be somewhat helpful to get a decent sparring partner back, anyway.

He took me to a place in Balamb instead of the cafeteria. He paid for two coffees. I had to wonder why he was doing it, but apart from the fact that he was _staring_ at me again all the way there, no alarm bells rang.

"So. Almasy. Tell me what's up with you," I said, curtly, perhaps a little too curtly.

He sighed softly. "I guess you think it's something to do with the war."

"Well, isn't it?" I raised an eyebrow, tapping my fingers against the table. I had better things to do than sit there and listen to him – or rather, not listen to him, but just wait for him to get over himself and tell me.

"Not... completely." He wrapped his fingers around his coffee cup, warming them. For a moment, we stayed silent. I wasn't going to be the first to speak – it was his problem, not mine. I was almost doing him a favour by coming here to listen. I could have made him tell me there and then, when I had Lionheart against his throat. He looked up at me, trying to hide the look in his eyes now, and sighed softly. "The truth is, Ultimecia still has _some_ hold on me, I guess. She cast a spell on me, in case I failed..."

I resisted the urge to reach for my gunblade. I swallowed hard and raised an eyebrow, trying to remain cool, unaffected, "And the spell...?"

"A love spell," he said, softly, and then paused, to let it all click together in my mind.


	4. Chapter 4

I didn't even wait for him to tell me more. I just got up, leaving a half drunk coffee there, feeling his eyes on me, hurt and... and _wanting_. He didn't call after me. I went back to Garden, back to my office, and buried myself in work.

At about lunchtime, I finally called my room to get hold of Rinoa.

"I found out what's wrong with Seifer," I said, simply, not bothering with a greeting. No doubt that would annoy her, but I wasn't thinking of her feelings right now. I needed her to help me in a more professional sense and well, if she's going to work with SeeD now and then, she has to get used to our ways.

"Oh?" she asked, sounding only a little miffed. I sensed the way she would be leaning against the wall, pushing at something on the floor with her foot, impatient but not about to ask further. Shy. Embarrassed. She was neither of those things really, I thought, and nearly huffed out loud, rolling my eyes. Then I shook the thought off, going back to the right thoughts. Business.

"He's under a spell."

"What kind of spell?" she asked, and I could almost _see_ the little furrow between her eyebrows, the more intrigued, puzzled frown that said she was already putting two and two together. I used to think she was utterly stupid for planning all her plans on the floor of a train carriage in five minutes flat. The plans were stupid, but it showed she _could_ think quickly, I supposed.

"A love spell."

"Oh... oh!" she spoke with the air of someone who suddenly saw everything become clear. "A love spell. He's in love with you!"

I wished she wouldn't sound so pleased about it.

"Yes. I need your help to break it – "

"I'll talk to him," she promised.

I put the phone down quickly after that and went back to my work. I didn't expect to be disturbed again all day, but apparently that's too much of an ambition. Not too long after that phonecall, Xu opened the door to my office, poking her head in with a nervous smile. "Commander?"

I wanted to bang my head against the desk or something. Instead, I just sighed. "Yes, Xu?"

"Rinoa Heartilly and Seifer Almasy are here to see you."

That combination spelt trouble.

I sighed again. "Let them in."

For once, Rinoa didn't make a beeline for my lap. Instead, she and Seifer both took seats on the other side of my desk. It took me a while to figure out why Rinoa hadn't just come around to me. But it was obvious when she cast a sympathetic look at Seifer. She was trying to spare his feelings. Making sure he didn't have to see me with her.

It was ridiculous.

"What do you want?" I asked, rubbing my temples and putting aside the piles of work.

"I... I scanned his brain, but I can't find a trace of the spell. I need help finding it," Rinoa said, quietly, fidgeting a little. For some reason, Seifer was smirking. His eyes were on me, intense and almost like a physical touch, even when I was trying to ignore it.

"I'm not a Sorceress," I said, carefully. "How can _I_ help?"

"We have a plan," Rinoa started, and Seifer took a deep breath, getting up and pacing around a little.

"Rinoa suggested this, not me. So..." he paused, giving me another intense look. I almost squirmed a little. "I need to kiss you."

"What the...?"

Rinoa stood up as well, leaning over the desk and making eye contact with me. "Squall, just listen before you decide, please. The spell has been really well camoflagued. But from what Seifer says... he's _straight_ really, so normally he wouldn't, you know, want you. The spell makes him want you as well as love you. If he kisses you, maybe there'll be some spark there, you know? Maybe I'll be able to find the spell when it's _working_."

"Seems to be working now," I said, quietly, bitterly. Rinoa glanced over her shoulder and nodded slightly at seeing the way Seifer was staring at me.

"Well, yeah, but it needs to _really_ work hard. Squall, please?"

Letting him kiss me would let her find the spell. Which would help her remove it. And if she removed it, then maybe Seifer and I could go back to normal. But would it be normal? After he'd fallen in love with me and all that? After he'd kissed me? And I didn't really want him to kiss me. The thought was... more than odd. It was completely alien. He was my rival. Not a potential boyfriend or whatever.

But I'd get back my sparring partner.

Was that worth letting Seifer kiss me? Letting him touch me? The idea of him kissing me made my stomach churn in a not at all comfortable way. At the same time, there were butterflies in my stomach at the thought. Hell, never mind butterflies, that's a girl thing. My stomach felt like a mess. And not in any kind of good way, at least, I didn't think so.

He was in love with me. Letting him kiss me, that would help Rinoa find out where the spell was. That would help her deactivate it. And then... Seifer was straight, before the spell. He'd be straight again. He'd be as disgusted by the memory of the kiss as me. That might just inject something new and better into our fights anyway.

Maybe it _would_ be worth it.

I blinked a little as I realised they were both looking at me, waiting. I ran through the thoughts just one more time, biting my lip. I saw that Rinoa was biting the inside of her cheek, fidgeting a little. I didn't know if it would upset her if I said yes. Maybe it would and it wouldn't, simultaneously. I'd be helping Seifer, but also, well, cheating on her. I suppose. I wondered if she really wanted me to do it. If it was the only way. But she seemed to want me to do it – if Seifer was telling the truth and _Rinoa_ came up with the plan, not him, things would be okay. Right?

"Alright," I said, sighing and shaking my head slightly.

Rinoa clapped her hands, smiling brightly, "Okay! You can go on a date tomorrow!"

A date?

I repeated the thought aloud.

"Yeah, of course!" she said, smiling, far too enthusiastic for someone who was arranging for her boyfriend to go on a date with another man. "I need you to have the whole setting."

I stayed silent.

Seifer smirked. "Gonna chicken out now, Leonhart?" he asked, without any of the old bite. It stung anyway.

"No. Fine. A date."

"I'll sort out everything for you," Rinoa said, still smiling brightly in a way that was becoming both infuriating and a little frightening. She leaned over to kiss me softly, then gave Seifer a soft kiss on the cheek. "Promise I'll help you if I can, Seifer."

"Thanks, doll," he said, with an odd look on his face. He looked at me again, his eyes hungry, and I finally understood that look. Want, need, love, desire, all of it. No wonder it made me shiver. I wanted to stop him looking at me. Kick his ass. But I knew it wouldn't help. Fuck, it'd probably have made him fall more in love with me or some stupid thing like that.

There was a short pause while Seifer looked at me, I looked at my desk, and Rinoa smiled in a pleased sort of way. Then I reached for my work and, one smirking, one smiling brightly and sweetly, both knew that was the cue to get out. They got out.

I buried my head in my hands and sighed softly.


	5. Chapter 5

Rinoa was far too enthusiastic about my 'date' for her own good, but I knew that it wasn't some weird set up. She was nervous. And she really, really didn't want to go messing with that spell, especially if it really _was_ a punishment for him created by Ultimecia, but, as she said, for world peace, might be better if we tried to help Seifer out.

"Why aren't you wearing your leather pants?" she asked, teasingly, when I ventured out of my room wearing denim.

"More casual?" I offered, and sighed as she shook her head and pushed me back into my room.

"Don't make too much effort. Just wear your usual things. He likes those."

"I wonder why," I muttered, looking at the leather and all the belts. But I did as Rinoa said and tried not to think about all Seifer's old innuendos, back when they had meant nothing but him trying to get under my skin. Rinoa practically pushed me out of the door, two minutes early, kissing me goodbye and giving me an impish little smile.

I was nervous. I admit it. Not because it was a date, but because it was Seifer, and because this was uncharted territory between us. One minute we'd been fighting, the next I'd been a Commander trying to help someone in his Garden and now we were, well... dating – or not dating, but pretending to. And that was the weirdest thought I'd ever had about Seifer, including the one where he actually _listened_ to me.

I wondered how I could ever survive a date with him. Make small talk. I resolved to make _him_ pay for everything, anyway.

It was easier than I thought. Dinner and a movie. I'd done that with Rinoa a few times. A movie first, and then discussion of it, how dumb some of it had been. It was almost like just being with a friend, and I relaxed a little.

But dinner. Dinner was different.

It wasn't a particularly expensive place, but still, it was too... intimate, for my liking. Our knees bumped under our table and Seifer seemed almost deliberately to be touching me. He grinned at me. "Thanks, by the way, Le... Squall."

I shrugged it off. "For what? I haven't done anything."

"You agreed to come on this date thing," he said, with a roll of his eyes. "It does mean something to me, you know. Not just because I have these stupid feelings for you. Or well, because of them, but not because I... love you. Because you're helping me. You have no idea how hard it is to watch you and Rinoa and think that I shouldn't feel jealous for any reason, and yet I do. I shouldn't want to hit every girl or guy that talks to you, but sometimes I do, because you seem more interested in them than me."

My mouth went dry. He was looking at me with that intense look again, and I wanted to squirm in my seat. Or just run out of there.

"I'm sorry," he said, quietly, and looked out of the window to spare me a little. "I know it makes you feel uncomfortable."

"It's okay," I said, because there wasn't anything else polite to say.

"Thank you," he said, softly, and there was almost a look of pain on his face. I didn't like that. It was, after all, supposed to be a romantic date. That was what Rinoa wanted, what she needed to find the spell. I bumped my knee against Seifer's under the table and found him a small smile.

"Cheer up. We're going to help you." I took a quiet deep breath, and realised I'd probably regret saying this, "You should make the most of the time you _have_ got me for."

He laughed at that and gave me another kind of intense look that made my stomach twist a bit. "Oh, then I will."

Dinner was a mess. I almost didn't want to eat and he seemed more prone to watching me than getting on with his dinner. He made jokes and innuendos, I ignored him as much as I could.

We finished eating and headed outside. Rinoa had suggested a walk. I tried not to mind when Seifer reached for my hand, pulling me along to somewhere – clearly wanting to get _somewhere_, just from the purposefulness to his stride. I was glad that he didn't tangle his fingers with mine as Rinoa always did.

A moment later, I found myself pressed against a wall, looking up into his face.

He had the tenderest look in his eyes. I reminded myself that it was just a spell, just a stupid little spell, and I kept my gaze cool. Still, he was looking at me in that _way_, that way he'd had only since the spell had been cast. The spell that made me feel naked, that made me feel as if he was looking through, into, me.

He bent down and kissed me, pushing me against the wall, his hands resting on my hips and his body moving close to mine, pressing me gently back. My heart was pounding and I know he could feel it. His was the same.

He kissed me softly, closing his eyes and making a soft sound like he couldn't believe he was doing it, and how good it was. How good it was. Because it was good, even though I didn't want it to be, even though the thought of being with Seifer like I was with Rinoa was alien, completely wrong. I wanted to push him away and run to find Rinoa, to talk through my feelings with her. I wanted to say to hell with both of them and get far, far away from these stupid, stupid, confusing things. And a tiny, tiny part of me, and the part that actually won, wanted to stay there and be kissed.

I heard steps running towards us and quick breathing, and I wanted Seifer to pull away, but he didn't, not yet.

"There's a problem, you guys," Rinoa said, and Seifer pulled away from me slowly, reluctantly, moistening his lips and keeping our eyes locked. His eyes were quizzical, questioning, as if he'd felt my response to the kiss, my discomfort and my decision to stay. I jerked quickly away from him and fixed my eyes on Rinoa's. I could still feel the pressure of his body against mine, the heat. The pressure of his lips. I could feel the remaining warmth of his hands, now cold, in hand shaped prints on my hips. I wanted it to go away. I wanted my heart to stop thudding like that.

We went back to Garden to talk about the problem. Sat in my office, it was better. I became cool, impersonal again. I was the Commander, the one in charge, and I liked that persona. I could play that persona well. The illusion of having control over the situation made every hyperalert system in my body finally calm down.

"So, Rinoa," I said, and gave her a smile that was just for her, not for Seifer, and clearly so. I wanted him to forget that I had ever kissed back when he kissed me, because I did it purely to help him, and to try and make him want to make sure that kiss never happens again – not out of any attraction I might have for him. Because I don't. Have any attraction, that is.

She smiled back a little, and smiled at Seifer, too, twisting her hands a little in her lap as she answered. "Well... There _is_ no spell."

_What?_

"_What?_" Seifer and I asked, almost simultaneously. I realised that he hadn't known there was no spell, either, and I couldn't understand it at all.

"There was a spell cast, but..." she sighed and sat up a little straighter. It was funny, I remember that Quistis always sat up like that when she wanted to explain something to us in class. It was like a reflex of women – or teachers, I'm not sure which. "The spell cast was a one time spell. You cast it, it sticks. Magic isn't needed to continue the spell. In fact, if that had been the case, the spell would have ended with Ultimecia's death."

"Shit," Seifer said, softly.

"So I'm afraid there's not much I can do."

I let them talk for a minute about what they could do. But I wasn't listening. This meant... that Seifer really was in love with me. Triggered by a spell, yes, but now for real, in love with me and wanting me. I didn't know how I could deal with that, forever. His distraction during our duels. His eyes on me whenever we passed.

I was almost tempted to kick him out of Garden.

But for the time being, I just kicked both of them out of my office.

I heard Rinoa talking to him, just outside my office. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn't help but listen.

"That spell would never have worked at all if you hadn't had some attraction to Squall originally," Rinoa said, and I wondered what Seifer looked like at that moment – whether, for once, he couldn't hold his head up straight. She was accusing him of being _gay_, and he had so hated that idea, and teased so many people for acting 'gay'.

I heard him mumble something in response, but not what he said.

Rinoa laughed softly. I imagined her patting him on the shoulder or something. "It's okay. There's nothing I can really do, and I'm sorry. Maybe you should leave Garden, and try to get over it?"

There was a laugh, and I realised that maybe he wasn't quite as disappointed about all this as he seemed. "Oh no, Rin, on the contrary. I'm staying. Squall liked that kiss I gave him. I'm hanging around to see what comes of that, doll."

I could almost _see_ Rinoa with her hands on her hips, dark eyebrow raised, laughing but serious, too. "Oh yeah? You forget, he has a _girlfriend_."

I could almost see Seifer's lecherous grin and wink.

"Who says I'm not after you, too?"

I rested my head against my desk with a soft groan, and longed for the days when I didn't want _anyone._


End file.
